The Utah-UC Davis match was the third on Day 1 of the tournament. Santa Clara outlasted Utah in five sets in the morning match, then North Carolina held on to beat SCU in five sets during the early-evening action.

UC Davis fell into an early hole against Utah in the nightcap as Bailey Baitman tallied two kills and two blocks for a 6-1 Utah start. The Utes later scored eight in a span of 10 points to push their lead out to 22-12. The Aggies hit just .034 for the frame, compared to Utah's blistering 16-1-31 offense. Schofield led the Utes with a perfect 4-0-4 attacking performance while right side Shelby Dalton put down five kills in the opener.

In the second, UC Davis broke loose for the early start, scoring the first three overall and six of the first nine. Utah managed to tie the set at 9-9 before Whitson's tip put the Aggies back on top. However, a Bateman-Dalton block ignited a 7-2 run that put Utah up by a 16-12 advantage. Damelio served up back-to-back aces to help bring UC Davis back to within a 16-15 deficit, then three straight Utah errors -- serving, setting and hitting -- briefly put the Aggies on top by an 18-17 edge. Brain powered her way to a pair of kill that gave UC Davis a 21-20 lead but that proved to be the last threat in the second for the Aggies. Redd recorded a block and a kill while Nikki Sim served up an ace to propel Utah to a final flourish and a 2-0 match lead.

Utah combined for back-to-back triple blocks in a 4-0 run that erased a 9-8 UC Davis lead in the third. Schofield popped three more kills in the middle stretch to extend the Ute lead to 19-12. Sophomore Victoria Lee delivered a block assist and a kill to help the Aggies to within four, but Utah maintained that cushion the rest of the way.

Utah finished the match with a .359 average while UC Davis struggled to just .065 hitting. The Ute net defense played a part, amassing 12 blocks among the Aggies' 20 attack errors.

In Friday's earlier action, sophomore Taylor Milton pounded out 20 kills and a .405 average to lead Santa Clara to a 21-25, 25-21, 20-25, 25-20, 18-16 win over Utah. The Utes even held a 16-15 match point in the fifth before the Broncos escaped with three straight points toward the win.

In the second match of the day, junior Kayla Berringer had 15 kills against just one error to boost North Carolina to a 25-14, 25-13, 23-25, 20-25, 15-10 win over SCU. The Tarheels held the Broncos to negative averages in the first and second sets before SCU bounced back to force the fifth. UNC is among the teams receiving votes toward Monday's national coaches' poll.